anyone wanna tell me where the activator is to raise the platform in the first area of the dlc that lets you cross the chasm into that cavern area embedded into the wall? I can see a poison statue creature, some other stuff across the ledge, and one of the pillars but couldnt find the button to raise it.
there's some statues on the other side that you have to break with manually-aimed magic or a lucky firebomb throw in order to hit the switch behind them.
I was clubbing it for the longest time, but the sun sword has A scaling for Strength AND Dex, which is really hard to top.b
Also I finally swapped out of the elite knight armor and am using the Throne Watcher set.
It's pretty nice!
I was talking about this in the other dark souls thread, but I'm kind of disappointed in the sun sword
Even with 40 Str and Dex, the damage is pretty low. It's a really good straight sword, but straight swords kind of suck by themselves, I'm discovering. Great animations but terrible damage, especially since strike damage is better against any enemy wearing armour (and lots that aren't!). I switched to strength and have been using a mastodon great sword/butcher knife one handed, and they're doing loads more damage. Instead of taking five or six hits to kill a mob, it takes two or three.
At first I thought low damage wouldn't bother me, but it makes bosses take a really long time.
I mean compared to like a greatsword or something sure
But the damage is quite excellent for anything else, especially given the attack speed
If it had more range it would be this games blueblood/balder side sword
I get what you're saying, there certainly are parts where a truly boring annoying tactic works perfectly, but I don't think it's particularly common. The only real example I can think of are the Cyclopes where it seemed to jump up and hit me in the face with "Fight this thing and have it be hard or run in a door and shoot it for two minutes with no danger" . The rest with pulling I liken to going through it surgically, it's like when you know a Mario level. Sure it's formulaic, but I get a certain satisfaction of ripping through a room in the "optimal" fashion after struggling with it the first couple times in the same way I like playing old Mario levels and getting through fast with all the secrets and a great score.
That is exactly what it's like, and that kind of satisfaction of "solving" a room or encounter is legit and a huge part of the fun
I find pulling individual enemies to be kind of a silly mechanic in any game, myself, though it is not a huge problem like arrowing a dragon to death
she's not the worst boss in the game, the dragon shrine guy is the worst boss in the game
I've never even tried him. He seemed boring and tedious for basically no reward. I tried the other optional boss but it didn't seem worth the headache, given what you have to go through to even reach it on every single death.
You referring to the Chariot, there?
Also yeah, I never bothered with the Ancient Dragon. That boss is bullshit on a stick.
Fucker one shots you with pretty much all his attacks. Fuck that.
I don't do fights that have no margin for error.
I put my summon sign down and got brought in some ten times to help others with him, and never once survived to see that fucker take any real damage.
Once, me and another phantom were doing some emote while the host ran in, and by the time we got in the boss was shooting fire at the fog wall land we died immediately.
There's a clear line between challenging and straight-up unfair, and Dark Souls 1 pretty consistently stayed the former. DS2 mostly does as well, but it dips a little too close to the latter sometimes.
As a phantom helping with the dragon shrine, I've been killed by the initial fire breath through the fog wall. If you don't go through immediately with the host, you actually need to run quite a bit away from the entrance to not instantly die.
I was clubbing it for the longest time, but the sun sword has A scaling for Strength AND Dex, which is really hard to top.b
Also I finally swapped out of the elite knight armor and am using the Throne Watcher set.
It's pretty nice!
I was talking about this in the other dark souls thread, but I'm kind of disappointed in the sun sword
Even with 40 Str and Dex, the damage is pretty low. It's a really good straight sword, but straight swords kind of suck by themselves, I'm discovering. Great animations but terrible damage, especially since strike damage is better against any enemy wearing armour (and lots that aren't!). I switched to strength and have been using a mastodon great sword/butcher knife one handed, and they're doing loads more damage. Instead of taking five or six hits to kill a mob, it takes two or three.
At first I thought low damage wouldn't bother me, but it makes bosses take a really long time.
I mean compared to like a greatsword or something sure
But the damage is quite excellent for anything else, especially given the attack speed
If it had more range it would be this games blueblood/balder side sword
I was gonna say the ~350 damage with 40/40 stats on the sun sword is really high compared to other straight swords, but I just looked it up and with the latest patch the vanagarian sword, the red rust sword and the drakekeeper's straight sword are all comparable with it now. Maybe they were comparable before that and I didn't notice? I dunno.
I think in general smaller weapons are less efficient than huge weapons for killing large enemies who you can't stagger, and thus can only attack once or twice before having to evade. Since mobs don't really try to evade, the strength of fast weapons is much more visible in PvP than PvE. It's harder to land big swings against players, and you are way more open to backstabs after whiffing one.
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UnbrokenEvaHIGH ON THE WIREBUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered Userregular
My problem with the Sun Sword is the 27 points in Strength or Dexterity that could go into vigor/vitality/adaptability with a dex or strength weapon
Re: encounter design, it's not a question of balance, it's a question of incentives. It is very true that you can attack an encounter many different ways, and if you find the conservative approach boring, you should try a different one.
It took me a long time to learn that in Dark Souls 1, but it only became an option when I was good enough at the game.
The conservative approach is not just one among many. It is the default, the most common, the most effective for the least effort. Running into a room and fighting four tough mobs at a time is more exciting, but you'll also die ten times more often. This teaches players that it isn't a good idea. For that approach to work, you need to be really good, which means you've already played the game a bunch and have probably experienced a conservative approach.
The ability to approach it differently doesn't change what the encounter design incentivizes, teaches, and rewards. Players gravitate toward the things that are effective. It isn't fun to spend an hour shooting that dragon to death in Demon Souls, but it also isn't fun dying to it repeatedly for an hour or more! Success is, for most players, the main goal. Succeeding through tedium versus repeatedly failing with an aggressive approach is a constant choice in Souls games, and the game is so punishing that success by any means is very desirable.
And conservative is plenty of fun - the tension, the surprise, the careful engagement of unknown dangers. It's when that tedious but clearly effective choice appears, as an alternative to hurling yourself against the encounter and dying until the enemies stop spawning. Look at how many people advise that you need a ranged option, how they talk about tackling a room by pulling enemies, how most players gravitate to shields how messages always tell you where to stand so you can shoot tough enemies safely, etc. The game tacitly encourages that kind of play by rewarding it.
Tedium just shouldn't be rewarded, IMO. That choice shouldn't exist. It really comes down to poor AI. Enemies shouldn't stand there dumbly while you whittle them away, they should notice when their buddy beside them gets shot in the face, and maybe the dragon should take notice of the guy who's been shooting him for twenty minutes.
I noticed a big improvement along these lines from 1 to 2, so hopefully it will continue.
I didn't actually have to fight many enemies at a time.
I activated enemies with my body through careful approaching and my lack of armor meanings my aggro was reduced.
I used the levels themselves to block lines of sight if ranged were a problem.
It wasn't that I fought 4 enemies at once, it was that I realised that there are more ways to separate your enemies than a bow.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
in some cases the dumb AI makes sense in the souls games, as a lot of your enemies are literally zombies. But of course not every AI dumbness can be explained away like that.
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BarcardiAll the WizardsUnder A Rock: AfganistanRegistered Userregular
Ok so where is the access to the DLC? I just got it but the character i want to use is 2 NG into it and im stuck in the Castle because i have forgotten how to play this game as a magic user. I got the key.
also i swear to god i saw that jester cancel an animation into a roll at one point, in a way that players don't seem able to. he's dead now though.
There's a dragonman in the dragon shrine that does that too. Soon as you hit him he instantly rolls no matter what he is doing. Even if you trade.
I was playing a rapier guy and I just kept doing shield stab. He kept rolling and trying to attack but my shield stab would cause him to break off the attack and roll again.
Monger said this to me two days ago and I'm echoing it now.
"This is the kind of level design I expect from them"
The layout is excellent.
Also (extremely early spoilers, first encounter in fact)
I can't be the only guy who walked straight back around the corner when the dragon woke up.
I knew what it was up to.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
in some cases the dumb AI makes sense in the souls games, as a lot of your enemies are literally zombies. But of course not every AI dumbness can be explained away like that.
I still laugh when one of those early zombies in DS1 tries to do the instant leap at you and disappears from sight.
Watch that gap buddy!
More seriously though, leading the AI on a merry chase back and forth through an area is my primary way to deal with multiple enemies if the layout allows it. 9 times out of ten you'll break them up just long enough to kill the first guy to get to you. If not, at least do a bunch of damage.
Very old strategy. Works on people too! Well, prior to guns anyway.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
What greatbows can be found/made altogether throughout the game?
The wiki only lists 2 but I'm positive there are more.
Prior to the DLC, I'm pretty sure there were in fact just two: the Alonne Knight Captain Greatbow, which drops in NG+, and one other that I can't remember. I think it's a Boss Soul weapon.
And as far as I can tell the DLC didn't add one, unless:
DLC Boss Spoiler
The Archer from the Trio fight drops her bow on higher difficulties.
Yeah there's only two great bows. You can get the Alonne great bow from any of the knights that use it, doesn't need to be NG+. The other one you get from Ornifex for the Old King Soul, which the Iron King drops in NG+ or after asceticing him.
Yeah there's only two great bows. You can get the Alonne great bow from any of the knights that use it, doesn't need to be NG+. The other one you get from Ornifex for the Old King Soul, which the Iron King drops in NG+ or after asceticing him.
The Alonne Greatbow is a really rare drop, though.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
Old Iron King isn't at all hard to Ascetic.
If you can beat him once you can beat him forever.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
K, i beat the boss last night but im still missing the trio boss and 2 bonfires.
1) In the first area, i found the section of cave with the repair tree, but the path that you use to enter the second section has an upper path that i cant figure out how to get to. It's also got some more caves in the walls that i havent found out how to get to, i presume these sections are linked. I see what is obviously an elevator but cant find out how to trigger it.
K, i beat the boss last night but im still missing the trio boss and 2 bonfires.
1) In the first area, i found the section of cave with the repair tree, but the path that you use to enter the second section has an upper path that i cant figure out how to get to. It's also got some more caves in the walls that i havent found out how to get to, i presume these sections are linked. I see what is obviously an elevator but cant find out how to trigger it.
I love the skeleton message meme. It always made me laugh when it came up in-game.
I had a good laugh at that spot where there were a load of messages of the form "message ahead" and "warning: message" and so on and so forth.
But I think my favourites are the ones that are actually very timely and informative, only you can't actually parse them until after the thing in question has happened. e.g. "Head ahead" in the giant memory.
there are so many words in each Dark Souls messaging system that I wonder why were put there
like did From add 'skeleton' just so people can make dumb jokes about the random skeletons in the game? Or is it a translation thing? I can't think of any situation in DS2 where someone can use skeleton to construct a constructive hint
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there's some statues on the other side that you have to break with manually-aimed magic or a lucky firebomb throw in order to hit the switch behind them.
I mean compared to like a greatsword or something sure
But the damage is quite excellent for anything else, especially given the attack speed
If it had more range it would be this games blueblood/balder side sword
That is exactly what it's like, and that kind of satisfaction of "solving" a room or encounter is legit and a huge part of the fun
I find pulling individual enemies to be kind of a silly mechanic in any game, myself, though it is not a huge problem like arrowing a dragon to death
On a positive note, i really like the DLC so far
As a phantom helping with the dragon shrine, I've been killed by the initial fire breath through the fog wall. If you don't go through immediately with the host, you actually need to run quite a bit away from the entrance to not instantly die.
I was gonna say the ~350 damage with 40/40 stats on the sun sword is really high compared to other straight swords, but I just looked it up and with the latest patch the vanagarian sword, the red rust sword and the drakekeeper's straight sword are all comparable with it now. Maybe they were comparable before that and I didn't notice? I dunno.
I think in general smaller weapons are less efficient than huge weapons for killing large enemies who you can't stagger, and thus can only attack once or twice before having to evade. Since mobs don't really try to evade, the strength of fast weapons is much more visible in PvP than PvE. It's harder to land big swings against players, and you are way more open to backstabs after whiffing one.
well it's not like it even matters what your soul level is
Granted, grudgingly
I didn't actually have to fight many enemies at a time.
I activated enemies with my body through careful approaching and my lack of armor meanings my aggro was reduced.
I used the levels themselves to block lines of sight if ranged were a problem.
It wasn't that I fought 4 enemies at once, it was that I realised that there are more ways to separate your enemies than a bow.
also i swear to god i saw that jester cancel an animation into a roll at one point, in a way that players don't seem able to. he's dead now though.
the rebalanced butcher blade is actually quite good.
I was playing a rapier guy and I just kept doing shield stab. He kept rolling and trying to attack but my shield stab would cause him to break off the attack and roll again.
Monger said this to me two days ago and I'm echoing it now.
"This is the kind of level design I expect from them"
The layout is excellent.
Also (extremely early spoilers, first encounter in fact)
I knew what it was up to.
Sun Sword is more of a NG+ weapon, to be fair.
It was basically the only thing I used in melee from NG+ onward, but prior to that I was mainly using the great club.
I still laugh when one of those early zombies in DS1 tries to do the instant leap at you and disappears from sight.
Watch that gap buddy!
More seriously though, leading the AI on a merry chase back and forth through an area is my primary way to deal with multiple enemies if the layout allows it. 9 times out of ten you'll break them up just long enough to kill the first guy to get to you. If not, at least do a bunch of damage.
Very old strategy. Works on people too! Well, prior to guns anyway.
What greatbows can be found/made altogether throughout the game?
The wiki only lists 2 but I'm positive there are more.
Prior to the DLC, I'm pretty sure there were in fact just two: the Alonne Knight Captain Greatbow, which drops in NG+, and one other that I can't remember. I think it's a Boss Soul weapon.
And as far as I can tell the DLC didn't add one, unless:
DLC Boss Spoiler
https://medium.com/@alascii
skeleton ahead
You missed a bonfire.
I love the skeleton message meme. It always made me laugh when it came up in-game.
The Alonne Greatbow is a really rare drop, though.
If you can beat him once you can beat him forever.
1) In the first area, i found the section of cave with the repair tree, but the path that you use to enter the second section has an upper path that i cant figure out how to get to. It's also got some more caves in the walls that i havent found out how to get to, i presume these sections are linked. I see what is obviously an elevator but cant find out how to trigger it.
2) Where is the trio boss?
3) Missing the third bonfire in the second area.
helllllp.
Easiest boss in the game by far, IMO
It seems really difficult to design a towering monster boss that isn't really slow, predictable and easy
(without making it unpleasantly difficult)
You need the Eternal Sanctum Key.
I had a good laugh at that spot where there were a load of messages of the form "message ahead" and "warning: message" and so on and so forth.
But I think my favourites are the ones that are actually very timely and informative, only you can't actually parse them until after the thing in question has happened. e.g. "Head ahead" in the giant memory.
Its difficult with this system.
like did From add 'skeleton' just so people can make dumb jokes about the random skeletons in the game? Or is it a translation thing? I can't think of any situation in DS2 where someone can use skeleton to construct a constructive hint
https://medium.com/@alascii